And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” So He said, “Come”. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus…
A few years ago we arrived back from Europe to be at a doctor’s appointment for our upcoming baby. This was important of course, but a little irregular for our schedule. I had an entire month of an open schedule. Not exactly promising for an itinerate minister, but we had an invite to design a youth room for a church on Maui opening an extension church on Oahu. “Well, you say, great door.” Except we hadn’t yet received a couple of checks from places we had recently ministered and… it costs money to get to Hawaii. Now we knew they were on the way, but they weren’t in the bank yet. So, Where do you put your trust? Bank accounts?
We asked God what to do…GO was the answer. The first step of faith was driving toward the west coast. At the same time I needed a traveling companion to assist in services, help build and work on the project, have three weeks open and to be acquainted with Hawaii enough as not to be tourist struck. We had a logical answer: a young man, Andy, who had lived in Hawaii, had traveled with us before and was knowledgeable with our particular style of fifth gear, pedal to the metal travel, figuratively speaking of course. A quick phone call revealed he had just started his first retail job in Colorado. Where do you put your trust? Logic?
God said GO, so go I did! The day before departing Andy calls up and says his company was giving a temporary lay off of three weeks and was now available to travel. The next question was how to get him down to Phoenix to rendezvous for the trip. As it worked out he planned to meet a friend in Los Angeles moving from Hawaii to Colorado in approximately three weeks. How perfect, but hadn’t God said GO? Where do you put your trust? Circumstances or lack of circumstances?
The next challenge was we weren’t able to reach the youth pastor in Hawaii, although he had contacted us two times concerning the youth room. Where do you put your trust? Modern communications? God said GO. Settled into our hotel, we contact my message machine and the youth pastor has returned our call with an appointment scheduled. He was very excited at our arrival on O’ahu. “Oh, by the way,” the message said, “our 3rd child was born two days ago”. A reasonable answer to the lack of communication, I would say. Where do you put your trust? The Omniscient One, the All Seeing God of the universe!
The following day we meet at their building to discuss the youth project and particulars and then head over to another church, an extension of one that I attended on Maui 17 years ago, Door of Faith, Honolulu. At the conference we meet Pastor Barbara, the daughter of the pastor when I attended on Maui. We communicate where we’ve been since Maui, including Bible School, traveling and ministering. “We agree with everything Dr. Hagin teaches”, she explains. She asks us if and when we might be on Maui. This weekend we respond. ‘Come prepared to preach Sunday evening’ is the last thing she says to us.
The next morning we board our plane for Maui. Sunday evening we arrive at the Wailuku Door of Faith. Remember the words were ‘Come prepared’, not any guarantees. Where do you put your trust? Sure deals? God said Go! We walk in the door and Pastor Barbara nods toward us and says, “It looks like our guest speaker has arrived.”
We finish speaking and the Holy Spirit instructs us to pray for ‘knees’. Looking to the Lord, I am first impressed it’s the right knee and then maybe the left. A lady comes forward and we pray for her knee. Immediately she senses the power of God and begins to move it. Then a man steps up and says his is the other knee. We minister healing and he senses the power of God, but feels no physical changes.Where do you put your trust? In the ‘fact’ that it doesn’t feel any different? If you leave the doctors office after a shot administered do you feel different, or do you put your trust in the doctor’s word the medicine will cure the ailment? How much more the Power of God’s Word!
Now the unusual begins to happen. That night I have a dream that I’m in the Ka’ahumanu Shopping Center and as we pass a sushi place I notice a basketball series I had been watching had come on earlier than I supposed it would. In the dream I was determined to see the game. The next afternoon we just happen to be in the shopping center and as we walk by ‘Sushi Go!’ I notice the exact game on. It is too intriguing a circumstance and I pull away from Andy and his dad Greg to watch the end. Nobody can understand why I am so motivated. They try to get me to leave to no avail. The game winds down and we are rooting loudly for our team. At that precise moment a man approaches me from the sushi bar. He explains he was the man I prayed for last night that felt no immediate healing. “ This morning”, he explains, “ as I stepped off my mail truck to deliver mail, I stepped down on the previously problem knee and realized I was healed.” Where do you put your trust? In your own thoughts and ideas of how to minister?
We then fly back to Oahu via Kauai and begin work on the youth room after jumping through some permit requirements. Seems like the building hasn’t completed escrow and stalls our starting time, cutting our two week project to one week.Added to this new insurance issues arise, causing us to build off site. We have to haul everything five miles back and forth from the pastor’s home to the church to make sure it fits. We count God faithful by going over the things He’s already caused to come to pass. This helps us draw strength for the rigorous schedule for the next few days. Almost nearing completion Andy has a prior commitment and leaves to fly back to California. I drop him off and now in need of an assistant, as most of the work left is a two-man job. Once again we ask the question, where do you put your trust? Can God provide in the wilderness? Of course He can. I complete everything I can by myself and about 6pm one of the paid staff asks me if I need help. We finish the project and I am off to the airport. Job completed!
Where do YOU put your trust? Bank accounts? Logic? Circumstances or lack thereof? Modern technology? Yours or others plans and schedules? Sure deals? Feelings? In your own thoughts and ideas? People? Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please God”. We tell God constantly we want to please Him, yet when He gives us an opportunity to use our faith how often do we shrink back? The next part of that verse states, “ he that comes to Him must believe that He is, AND that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. What can He reward us for if we cease to step out in faith? I want to challenge you to reach out and use your faith. Please God! I believe He’s constantly looking for people to reward for exercising their faith.